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A caller study connected Nigeria’s healthcare strategy has exposed challenges plaguing the sector, including mediocre infrastructure, underfunding, anemic governance, and persistent inequalities successful entree to prime care.
This is arsenic Nigeria makes past arsenic the archetypal African state to nutrient a Country Health System and Services Profile (CHSSP).
The 295-page report, jointly produced by the WHO African Region, the University of Nigeria’s Health Policy Research Group (HPRG) warned that without urgent reforms, Nigeria volition miss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) connected wellness and cosmopolitan wellness sum (UHC).
At the unveiling of the Country Health Systems and Services Profile (CHSSP) 2025 for Nigeria yesterday successful Abuja, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said the challenges outlined successful the study are surmountable.
The Minister of Health, Professor Ali Pate said tackling the challenges required multi-stakeholder efforts, adding that the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII) was conceived by President Bola Tinubu’s medication to code them.
Pate represented by Dr Kamil Shoretire, the Ministry`s Director, Health, Planning, Research and Statistic, said the national authorities is addressing the challenges of debased expenditure of authorities successful the wellness sector, implicit dependence connected backstage wellness facilities and precocious retired of pouch expenditure done its reforms.
“We launched successful the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) successful August 2024 with a 1.2 cardinal U.S. dollars investment.
“The SWAp inaugural ensures that each stakeholders – government, improvement partners, civilian nine and the backstage assemblage – run nether a single, unified strategy (One-plan, One-Budget, One-Conversation, One-M&E and One-Report).
“This coordination is indispensable to maximise ratio and impact,” helium said.
He further said the government, successful its thrust to execute cosmopolitan wellness sum by 2030, had accrued enrollment successful the National Health Insurance Scheme from 16.7 cardinal to implicit 19.4 cardinal wrong the past year, adding that the authorities was strengthening superior wellness attraction done the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, disbursing N80 cardinal successful 2024 and expanding it to N298.42 cardinal successful 2025.
“Through the Presidential Initiative for unlocking the Health Care Value Chain, we person created a N5billion U.S. dollars task pipeline and attracted N2 cardinal successful overseas investments,” helium said.
In his remarks, Prof. Obinna Onwujekwe, Director of Nigeria’s National Centre for AHOP and Coordinator of the Health Policy Research Group, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said the CHSSP aims to supply modular grounds for informed policy-making successful the wellness sector.
According to him, the study “assesses Nigeria’s wellness strategy show and work transportation against Africa’s benchmarks to usher due action.”
The CHSSP study revealed that Nigeria’s wellness strategy is performing astatine lone 45 percent, beneath the African determination mean of 56 percent. The study noted that show outputs — entree to, request for, and prime of wellness services — person improved implicit the past decennary but “remain insufficient to execute cosmopolitan wellness sum by 2030.”
Despite progress, Nigeria’s implicit sum of indispensable services was recovered to beryllium 1.7 percent beneath the determination average.
The study besides highlighted that backstage wellness providers presently present 70 percent of each wellness services, contempt owning lone 35 percent of wellness facilities.
It further stated that astir 80 percent of Nigeria’s wellness infrastructure is dysfunctional, impeding work transportation and starring to an estimated 1 cardinal U.S. dollars yearly nonaccomplishment to outbound aesculapian tourism.
Additionally, out-of-pocket expenditure accounts for 75 percent of full wellness spending, with lone 1 successful 10 Nigerians having entree to immoderate signifier of wellness security oregon risk-pooling scheme.
Also speaking, Beth Kveling, Senior Policy Fellow with the London School of Economics (LSE) Department of Health Policy, commended Nigeria’s enactment successful wellness assemblage research, noting that the CHSSP would service arsenic a modular for betterment implementation and advancement tracking.
“It’s been an implicit pleasance to enactment with the Health Policy Research Group and WHO connected this profile,” Kveling said. “We anticipation it forms a baseline statement of the wellness strategy to enactment from arsenic Nigeria brings successful a scope of reforms and measures betterment implicit time.”
Kveling added that akin reports are underway successful Ethiopia, Rwanda, Senegal, and Kenya, noting that Nigeria’s pioneering effort provides a invaluable comparative model for African countries.
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